Ski out of bounds and it’s only a matter of time before you’re fighting for your life. There’s no two ways about it, so don’t even argue the point.

“If you spend a lot of time in the backcountry you will trigger an avalanche,” says Marc Beverly, an internationally licensed mountain guide who is certified in rock, alpine and ski mountaineering, and is based in Albuquerque, NM. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Beverly is not being an alarmist. He’s being a realist. Beverly, 42, has over the years lost more than 10 friends to avalanches, and he’s been caught up in a few himself while skiing backcountry routes in the United States and around the globe. He knows it’s dangerous, but danger is part of the appeal.

“There is always a fear, there is always a risk, but that’s part of the game,” he says.

More and more people are playing the game. Skiing the backcountry (remote areas that aren’t regularly patrolled) and sidecountry (off-trail areas accessed through ski resorts) has grown in popularity as skiers ditch resorts in favor of wilder terrain with fresher snow, steeper runs and smaller crowds. Many ski areas, including Bridger Bowl, Stevens Pass and Jackson Hole, now include sidecountry zones, and adventurers eager to go even farther into the wild can hire guides to take them there by helicopter, snowcat or on foot.

For several years now, avalanche safety training classes have focused on reading terrain and finding and digging out victims. Such lessons remain the staple of these classes, but the growing number of fatalities has brought an increased focus in the science of avalanche safety, including an acknowledgment of the role of heuristic factors in increasing the risk.

Simply put, heuristic factors are the human variables that impact decision-making and often lead people into dangerous situations. Robb Gaffney, a former pro skier who is now a Squaw Valley-based psychiatrist with a particular interest in sports, says the heuristic factors studied in avalanche safety are principally concerned with how humans use patterns in decision-making. Instead of forcing our brains to consider countless variables in any given situation, we rely on patterns we’ve observed to speed up or round out our decisions. While this is useful in many everyday situations, it can be deadly in the backcountry.

Included in the principal heuristic factors is something called “familiarity” — the belief that because you’ve skied a specific location many times without trouble, there’s nothing to worry about. Another factor, called “social proof,” leads us to believe that something must be safe because lots of people are doing it. Then there’s the “expert halo” factor, in which we trust someone’s experience or expertise beyond our best judgment. And the “consistency” or “commitment” factor pushes people to follow through at all costs. That one is well-documented among mountaineers, particularly those who push to the summit of, say, Everest rather than turn back.

The key to venturing into the backcountry safely is recognizing the heuristic factors that might put you at risk, and using them alongside common sense and sound judgment while recognizing your limits.

“That’s what all the [heuristic factors] are about, to slow people the hell down,” Beverly says. “People get killed when they get into too much of a hurry. One of the things I teach people in my courses is don’t be a head-down mule. Always be thinking about whether this is a place where I’m going to get in over my head real quick.”

In other words, think first, ski second, at a pace and in a place suitable to your skills, the weather and the terrain.

“My hope is that people will become active thinkers out there,” says Gaffney. “My goal is for people to become aware of the human mind and see how it can draw you into situations that you might not expect.”

The Scarpa Maestrales RS boots. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Outside the human factor, new developments in technology have also made venturing beyond groomed runs far safer. Avalanche airbags help skiers “float” atop a torrent of tumbling snow. They were first used in Europe but have grown increasingly popular in the United States since arriving a few years ago.

“We’ve seen growth in bag sales every year since we’ve been selling them,” says Kevin Sainio, the manager and hard goods buyer for Backcountry Experience, an outdoor store in Durango, CO.

The AvaLung is another handy gadget. It’s a pack or sling that has a mouthpiece that draws fresh air from a one-way valve and dissipates CO2 through the back of the pack, preventing the victim from re-inhaling their carbon dioxide and asphyxiating.

Anyone venturing into the backcountry definitely ought to carry a shovel, an avalanche probe and an avalanche beacon and know how to use them. Beacons send and receive electronic radio signals, allowing rescuers to pinpoint your location, even if you’re buried. Recently there have been important advancements in accuracy of the digital avalanche beacons, which now feature three antennas instead of two.

The ski gear you use also can make a difference. One advancement that’s helping keep skiers safe is alpine touring (AT) gear that allows you to lift your heels while ascending and lock them down when descending.

For years, the American backcountry scene was dominated by telemark skiers because they were the only kind of skis that allowed this kind of free heel motion. The problem with telemark bindings was that until recently they didn’t have a built-in release for skiers who took a hard fall. That’s begun to change, but many skiers say they prefer the greater precision of AT bindings.

“I love teli skiing and I think the teli turn is fun,” Beverly says. “It has its place in the world, but the technology is not quite there.”

All gear and avalanche information aside, however, Beverly says, there is also one more crucial element to staying safe in the backcountry: knowing when to stay home. There are five levels of avalanche risk issued by places like the Colorado Avalanche Information Center: low, moderate, considerable, high and extreme. Always check them before heading out.

Everyone knows to stay out of the backcountry when the risk is high or extreme. Where they get into trouble is when the risk is moderate to considerable. In those cases, the lure of pristine powder and epic runs can overcome an honest assessment of one’s skills and experience, leading to trouble. It is better, Beverly says, to live to ski another day and stay in.

“You always mitigate your risk by skiing in conditions that are appropriate,” he says. “And some days you mitigate your risk by going bowling and not going skiing.”